Submitted by: Andrea Farmer
Today 6 hikers were walking up Old Buck trail near the Three Chop junction and the two people out front came on a large mama black bear and her cub, probably an year or two old.
None of us had thought of bears due to the early spring season.
No one had bear spray.
I (Andrea) panicked and did the wrong thing, walked quickly back down the trail.
I looked back and saw the bears running down the trail, seemingly in our direction.
Luckily they headed into the woods.
It has made me realize how dependent we are on bears being uninterested in us, or scared of us. If they are aggressive we are screwed. Since the horrible grizzly attack near Banff last summer, I have been afraid.
One of our group reminded us that groups of people aren’t usually attacked.
That the best thing to do is stand in a group, hold our poles out, make noise.
It’s so hard to not run away.
The rest of the hike was bear free.
Submitted by: Andrea FarmerToday 6 hikers were walking up Old Buck trail near the Three Chop junction and the two people out front came on a large mama black bear and her cub, probably an year or two old.None of us had thought of bears due to the early spring season.No one had bear spray.I (Andrea) panicked and did the wrong thing, walked quickly back down the trail.I looked back and saw the bears running down the trail, seemingly in our direction.Luckily they headed into the woods.It has made me realize how dependent we are on bears being uninterested in us, or scared of us. If they are aggressive we are screwed. Since the horrible grizzly attack near Banff last summer, I have been afraid.One of our group reminded us that groups of people aren’t usually attacked.That the best thing to do is stand in a group, hold our poles out, make noise.It’s so hard to not run away.The rest of the hike was bear free.